Progressives and Prison Labor

Rebuilding Ohio's National Road during World War I

Jeffrey Alan John

• Publisher: University of Akron Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781629221403
• eBook ISBN: 9781629222097
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

During World War I Ohio Governor James M. Cox accepted pleas from the federal government to initiate a road-building project that would make the National Road suitable for military vehicles. A lack of workers threatened the plans, however, so in a controversial move hundreds of convicts, almost all African American, were pulled from Ohio's prisons to comprise the labor corps. The multi-million-dollar undertaking, completed just as the war ended, created what was reputed to be the world's longest stretch of continuous brick road. Today, the enterprise serves as an excellent example of how racism and plain old-fashioned politics permeated good intentions of one of the last Progressive Era endeavors. Drawing on archives, contemporary records, and many previously unpublished photos, Progressives and Prison Labor: Rebuilding Ohio's National Road during World War I recalls the National Road background, the personalities, and the massive construction project that consumed southeast Ohio through the spring and summer of 1918.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Foreword
• Notes about the Images
• Introduction
• I. The Road
• II. Good Roads
• III. War Roads
• IV. Forty Thousand Trucks
• V. Five Million Bricks
• VI. Sledgehammers and Picks
• VII. Victory Declared
• VIII. The Last Brick
• IX. Settling Accounts
• X. Winners and Losers
• Epilogue
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index